The Keeping Place (Book Six in the Witch Hunter Saga)

by Nicole R. Taylor

  When she was about five miles from the castle and almost losing hope he’d find her, a dark shape appeared ahead, arms waving. Recognizing Nye—and hoping it wasn’t a trick of her mind—she slowed and pulled off to the side. When the headlights lit up his familiar form, she heaved a sigh of relief and brought the car to a standstill, leaving the engine running.

  He rounded the car and opened the driver’s side, coaxing her to climb over the center console.

  “Are you okay?” he asked as she scurried into the passenger seat. “What happened to the windscreen?”

  “Eleanor,” she replied, grasping his arm to make sure he was really there and not a fear-induced hallucination. “I got in the car, started it, and she was standing in the driveway. I…”

  “You ran her over?” he asked, his mouth falling open.

  “What happened out there? Are the Triskele coming after us now, too?”

  “No. They won’t be a problem. Sheera’s gone,” he stated as he pulled the car back out onto the road. “Eleanor somehow used her immortality to embed some kind of control over her. The sire bond with the wolves ensured the pack would follow her every command.”

  “The Triskele were enslaved? All this time?”

  Nye nodded. “Sheera sacrificed herself to save her pack. If anything, the Triskele have turned on the Unhallowed for what Eleanor did. They’re back to changing with the moon, I’m afraid, but at least we won’t have to worry about them coming for us. I hope.”

  So Sheera was only doing what she thought was right for her pack. Isobel could understand it to a point, but to live over four hundred years so they could escape the whims of the moon? She shook her head. There was too much left unsaid and even more that Nye had not explained to her. Her fingers found the pendant around her neck.

  “Please, give me some answers,” she said, her voice wavering. “After what just happened back there… I need some answers.”

  “Fine,” he replied, his gaze never leaving the road. “That pendant I gave you was handed down from Triskele alpha to Triskele alpha until the day Sheera’s father gave it to me. Free and clear.” Nye’s eyes blazed, his annoyance at an all-time high.

  “A Triskele heirloom is stopping me from becoming a wraith?” she asked, her breaths coming in short bursts. “Why’d he give it to you?”

  “I saved his daughter,” he said simply.

  “Sheera?” Her mouth fell open.

  “He had no sons, and she was his only offspring. I saved her while she was still a mortal wolf, and she went on to sacrifice herself to save them from the moon. The pendant was given to me as a sign of his gratitude, nothing more. It has no special powers. It’s just a necklace.”

  “You could’ve just told me,” Isobel exclaimed. “If it was that simple, why let me believe…” She trailed off.

  “Because that day, I started something I never realized. Sheera believed she loved me, and I… I let her believe it when there was no hope.”

  “Because you loved Eleanor.”

  “I never loved her, either,” he snapped.

  “But you believed it at the time.”

  “What do you want me to say, Isobel?” he asked, his jaw tensing. “We’re talking about something that happened four hundred years ago. I’m not the same man.”

  “I don’t want you to say anything,” she declared. “I only want to understand.” She placed her hand over his, and his grasp tightened around the steering wheel. “You saved me back there. Again. You have nothing to prove. Not to me.”

  Silence opened up between them, the events of the night weighing heavily on both of them.

  “What about the Triskele?” Isobel asked after a moment of reflection. “What will happen to them now?”

  “Sheera’s fate was sealed the day she accepted immortality from Eleanor,” Nye replied. “There was never any saving her.”

  “So she’s truly gone?”

  “Nothing can live forever,” he murmured, his eyes fixing on the road ahead. “Not even the immortal.”

  Chapter 10

  Gabby was waiting in the garage when the door opened, and the car carrying Nye and Isobel drove in.

  She took one look at the cracked windshield, and her heart leapt. When she’d received a text message from Izzy saying they were on their way back, she hoped it was in one piece. By the looks of the car, they’d had one hell of a ride.

  “You wouldn’t believe the night we had,” Isobel said, looking bedraggled as she got out of the car.

  “What happened?” she asked, peering at the cracked windscreen. “Are you all right?”

  “You were right, Gabby,” Nye said as he threaded his arm through Isobel’s arm. “Eleanor showed up and used the Triskele against us.”

  “The wolves came after you?”

  “It’s a long story.” The spy shrugged as he led them into the house. “Though I’m not sure your baby prediction was accurate.”

  “They didn’t exactly have an opportunity to speak,” Isobel said, heaving a sigh of relief the moment the garage door closed, and she was safely inside the manor. “Sheera was a wolf, and I ran Eleanor over. Smacked into the windscreen and flew off to bitchville as far as I’m concerned.”

  “You ran her over?” Gabby’s mouth fell open, and she would have laughed, but it didn’t seem appropriate considering the whole…other thing.

  “Will you let me go?” Isobel snapped at Nye, wrenching her arm away. “I’m totally not pregnant.”

  Nye’s grip loosened, and he glanced at Gabby with a worried look. If he was concerned…

  “Pregnant?”

  They all looked up as Alex appeared in the hallway, a confused look of anger on his face.

  “It’s not like that, Alex,” Isobel said. “It’s a bunch of bullshit if you ask me. I can’t feel a thing.”

  “You usually can’t,” Nye muttered, drawing the wrath of the founder.

  “Someone explain this to me?” Alex’s eyes flashed. “A vampire knocked up my human sister?”

  Isobel grasped his hand and tugged, turning his attention away from the vampire and onto her. “Let me explain…”

  While the going was good, Gabby nudged Nye toward the stairs. An all-out brawl was the last thing she wanted to deal with, not when she was more desperate to hear what had happened with the Triskele.

  Automatically, she led him toward the study, the room she felt most comfortable in. Memories of Regulus were all around, but they were mixed with those of her friends now, too. For lack of a better word, this place had become her home.

  Flipping on the light, she crossed the room and flopped down into the armchair. She’d been up all night, worried sick about those two and the baby they’d probably made a few hours ago. A totally inappropriate picture appeared in her mind’s eye, and she tried not to throw up. Ugh.

  “Now tell me from the beginning,” she said to the spy. “What was so important about the Triskele?”

  “I explained this to Isobel already,” he said. “She’s wearing a Triskele heirloom, after all.”

  “It wasn’t hard to notice something was up with it,” Gabby said dryly. “Was it the alpha’s?”

  He shook his head. “Her father’s.”

  “Okay, so not quite as bad but still awkward.”

  “The Triskele alpha is…was immortal,” he began, ignoring her quip. Gabby sat up straight, suddenly more interested as he continued, “I’ve known her a long time. Sheera. I saved her from hunters as a child.”

  “Hunters? You mean she was changing when she was…”

  Nye nodded. “She was in line to be the next alpha even though she was a woman. Her transformations began earlier than others. I knew exactly what she was when I saw her. A little silver wolf. I saved her and took her back to her father, and he gifted me the pendant. I’ve kept it ever since.”

  “Sounds like you’ve known Sheera a lot through the years.”

  “She helped me escape the Unhallowed once or twice over the centuries.”


  “She made a bargain with Eleanor while she still held her human form. She wanted a way to stop her pack from turning with the moon. The Unhallowed gave her immortality, and it wasn’t until last night that the catch was revealed.” He shifted uneasily, and his head turned toward the door. The others must be coming. “Sheera’s pack was bonded to her command. Eleanor forced her to transform, and the rest of the wolves had no choice but to follow. Through Sheera, the pack would have been enslaved.”

  “Would have?” Gabby asked with a frown.

  “She broke the sire bond and gave up her immortality to save them from Eleanor.”

  Her eyebrows rose. The alpha sacrificed herself?

  The door opened, and Alex stormed in, followed by a desperate looking Isobel.

  “You say a vampire can’t get a human pregnant?” he exclaimed, jabbing a finger at his sister. “Then listen!”

  Nye stiffened, his eyes narrowing, but he took a wary step toward Isobel. Gabby watched closely as the spy’s uncertainty was on full show. He didn’t quite believe any of this was possible even though they’d witnessed some pretty crazy stuff.

  Kneeling before Isobel, he placed his ear against her stomach, his hands grasping her slight waist. Then his eyes widened before screwing shut.

  “How…” he whispered, staring up at a shocked looking Isobel. “It’s only been hours.”

  Isobel glanced at Gabby. “There’s a heartbeat. And my stomach is beginning to grow.”

  “Come here,” she said, gesturing for her friend to sit in the other armchair.

  Perching on the edge of hers, she placed her hands on Isobel’s stomach and felt the significant bump for herself. Allowing a small tendril of power to flow through her palms and into Izzy’s body, she felt what the other’s had heard. The tiny thrum of a baby’s heartbeat.

  “They’re right,” she said. “There’s definitely something in there.”

  “Something?” Isobel squeaked.

  “If I may,” she said. “I’m going to attempt to divine the baby’s future.”

  “You can do that? But isn’t it…not developed enough?”

  “There’s a heartbeat, Izzy,” she murmured. “I’d say it’s growing at a magical pace.”

  “I’m going to pop in days, not months?”

  “Take a few deep breaths,” she reassured her. “I’m going to try to see.”

  Crossing to the other side was easy when it was only her mind that flew over the barrier. She slipped seamlessly into the stream, focusing her will on the little heartbeat.

  Images flashed through her mind, thick and fast. Whoever the child was destined to be, there was going to be a great deal of power involved. The stream never flowed this quickly.

  Reaching out, she attempted to grab something, anything, that might help her know who this child was meant to be and how she could help it.

  The visions melted around her like silk, the cool touch of the other side chilling her bones and casting everything in a silver light. Finally, her fingers tightened around one, and she tore it away from the stream like a page from a book. Instantly, her mind was assaulted by an image so bright and colorful she almost pulled out of the stream and returned to the land of the living.

  A little girl stared at her, the spitting image of Isobel, but as soon as she beheld it, she was flung backward, her connection severed.

  Gabby’s eyes opened, and she knew. The baby was a little girl, but beyond that, it was anyone’s guess.

  What did Eleanor want with the baby? She knew it would have the power necessary to resurrect the Unhallowed, but it would take time to train the child. Years, in fact. Would it be sacrificed? The thought of the poor little thing being used in such a terrible way made her feel sick.

  Eleanor mustn’t get her hands on Isobel and Nye’s child.

  “What did you see?” Isobel asked as Gabby pulled her hands away.

  She watched her friend closely, knowing her witchy ways caused her to speak in riddles most often than not. If there was any time she needed things laid out clearly, it was now.

  “It’s a little girl,” she muttered, looking troubled.

  “A girl?” Nye asked, his voice sounding far away.

  Isobel’s stomach churned, her gaze drawn to the window where beyond the sun was rising. Not even a day had passed, and she was going to be a mother?

  Voices hummed in her ears, but nothing was registering. Panic began to set in, nausea rising in uncontrollable waves. A few weeks ago, her biggest problem had been her thesis, and now she was going to be a mother to a miracle baby whose father was a four-hundred-year-old vampire? She couldn’t handle it. This was way too much.

  “If Eleanor engineered this…” she began haltingly. “Is any of this child mine? Is it…”

  “It’s yours and Nye’s,” Gabby said, taking her hands. “It’s none of her.”

  “But… She needs a witch. I’m only human.”

  “That’s what the curse was for,” Gabby explained. “She made you one. You don’t have any powers, but she gave you her witch’s essence so you could pass on the legacy.”

  “The pendant…” Her hand flew to her neck. “So I’m not becoming a wraith?”

  “You’ll still need to wear it, I’m afraid. It was rash of Eleanor to curse you the way she did.”

  “Why?”

  “She was banking on me being able to find a way to halt the effects. Just as she was hoping Nye would turn himself over to her the night of the ritual.”

  “I’m glad I ran over her, then,” Isobel declared. “I know she isn’t dead, but I hope she’s got one hell of a headache.”

  Nye knelt beside her, looking just as frightened as she was. She supposed he didn’t bank on this happening, either. They’d been played in the most conniving way possible.

  “Where’s Tristan?” the spy asked. “We need to step up our defense of the manor. Eleanor was a hair’s breadth from taking her.”

  Silence descended on the room, and Isobel suddenly felt guilty. She hadn’t had a chance to tell him Tristan had left two days ago now. There hadn’t really been time what with freaking out over impossible babies, being hunted by werewolves, and being cornered by a psychopathic wraith.

  “Hello?” Nye exclaimed, glancing around the room. “I spoke out loud, didn’t I?”

  “Tristan’s gone,” Gabby said after a moment. “He left the night before Isobel’s relapse.”

  “What a coincidence,” the spy drawled, glaring at the witch. “Eleanor was able to reactivate the curse, and obviously, she waved her magic wand and summoned her man-servant.”

  “No, I won’t believe it,” she hissed. “He left because he felt like he was a danger to us all. He believed that if Eleanor could get to him so easily, she could do it again. He didn’t want to cause any more harm.”

  “I think he thought she could ignite her compulsion the same way as my curse,” Isobel mused, laying her hand on Nye’s shoulder.

  “How would he have known?” Alex asked. “We didn’t until the next day.”

  “I don’t know,” she declared. “He was very old and wise like a vampire Yoda. Perhaps he sensed it. It doesn’t matter anyway. He’s gone.”

  “Why are you so upset about it?” Nye asked, rising to his feet. “He was a stick in the mud.”

  She turned on him, her eyes blazing. “He helped me, Nye. When you were too busy ignoring me, your burdensome human prisoner, he was the one who made sure I had food. You know, the stuff that keeps puny humans alive? If you don’t eat, you don’t shit. And if you don’t shit, you die.”

  His eyebrow rose. “How poignant.”

  “We have to go on without him,” Alex said. “You have an entire city at your beck and call, Nye. Use it.”

  “It’s not that simple,” the spy said, grinding his teeth.

  “It is,” Gabby declared. “If the Unhallowed are resurrected, then it’s everyone’s problem.”

  Isobel listened to her friends bickering, and her stomach gurgled. A milli
on questions echoed through her head, none of them having to do with fortifying the manor or tracking down a way to kill a wraith for good. They had everything to do with how fast this baby was growing and if she’d be alive at the end of it.

  Rising to her feet, her head swam, and her brow prickled with sweat. What if she didn’t make it out the other end? What if she died giving birth to this little girl? Her little girl. What if all this was for nothing?

  “I’m going to be sick,” she exclaimed, then rushed from the study, aiming straight for the bathroom in her bedroom.

  Sliding on the tiled floor, she made just in time. Nye was beside her in an instant, gently pulling her hair behind her back as she popped, the contents of her stomach emptying into the toilet bowl.

  “If this ain’t true love, then fucked if I know what it is,” he muttered, rubbing her back.

  All Isobel could do was moan in reply.

  Chapter 11

  When Isobel woke, it was dark outside. She must have slept the entire day away.

  Rolling onto her side, she gasped when she felt the size of her stomach. It was the size of a basketball!

  “That’s really something,” Nye said beside her.

  “Don’t sound so smug,” she bit out as he came into focus. “You put it there.”

  “I heard no complaining.”

  Pushing up, she sat beside the vampire, and her heart bloomed with a sharp burst of love. Every emotion under the sun wove a path through her, but that was the one she had to focus on. She didn’t know how long he’d been sitting beside her on the bed, but she was glad he was there when she’d woken. Especially since she was still coming to terms with the turbo baby in her guts.

  “I’m worried,” she whispered, laying her head on his shoulder.

  “About what?” His arm circled around her back, and his chilled body temperature began to cool her fevered brow.